"that the name comes from their frequent association with termite mounds or the termites they eat. Three subspecies are currently recognized: The meerkat is a small diurnal herpestid (mongoose) weighing on average about . Its long slender body and limbs give it a body length of and an added tail length of around . The meerkat uses its tail to balance when standing upright, as well as for signaling. Its face tapers, coming to a point at the nose, which is brown. The eyes always have black patches around them, and they have small black crescent-shaped ears. Like cats, meerkats"
"Polecat Polecat is the common name for mammals in the order Carnivora and subfamily Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank; the name is applied to several species broadly similar to European polecats, the only species native to the British Isles. In the United States, the term ""polecat"" is sometimes applied to the black-footed ferret, a native member of the Mustelinae, and (loosely) to skunks, which are only distantly related. Despite the name, polecats, being various caniform mustelids, are more closely related to dogs than cats, which is why they belong to the suborder of Caniformiae. In Canada,"
"placed in a concealed pit. A scent trail of pheasant viscera leads the cat to the pit. A wildcat caught in a trap growls and snorts. Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex of small cats, comprising the European wildcat (""Felis silvestris"") and the African wildcat (""F. lybica""). The former is native to Europe and the Caucasus. The latter – the ancestor of the domestic cat (""F. catus"") – ranges through much of Africa; Southwest and Central Asia into India; and western China. Because of the species' wide range the wildcat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red"
"Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex of small cats, comprising the European wildcat (""Felis silvestris"") and the African wildcat (""F. lybica""). The former is native to Europe and the Caucasus. The latter – the ancestor of the domestic cat (""F. catus"") – ranges through much of Africa; Southwest and Central Asia into India; and western China. Because of the species' wide range the wildcat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002. However, crossbreeding of wildcats and domestic cat (""Felis catus"") occurs in particular in Europe and is considered a potential threat for the preservation"
"Ferret The ferret (""Mustela putorius furo"") is the domesticated form of the European polecat, a mammal belonging to the same genus as the weasel, ""Mustela"" of the family Mustelidae. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur. They have an average length of including a tail, weigh about , and have a natural lifespan of 7 to 10 years. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. Several other Mustelids also have the word ""ferret"" in their common names, including an endangered species, the black-footed ferret. The history of the ferret's domestication is uncertain, like"
"The Meerkats The Meerkats, also known as Meerkats: The Movie, is a feature-length 2008 British wildlife fiction film which anthropomorphises the daily struggles of a clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. It was produced by BBC Films and The Weinstein Company, and filmed by the award-winning BBC Natural History Unit. It is the debut directorial feature of James Honeyborne, previously a producer of natural history programmes for television. The worldwide premiere was held at the Dinard Film Festival, France in October 2008, expanding to a wide release the following week. The film was released in 2009, on 7 August"
"predators. Martial eagles, tawny eagles and jackals are the main predators of meerkats. Meerkats sometimes die of snakebite in confrontations with snakes (puff adders and Cape cobras). Meerkats become sexually mature at about two years of age and can have one to four pups in a litter, with three pups being the most common litter size. Meerkats are iteroparous and can reproduce any time of the year. The pups are allowed to leave the burrow at two to three weeks old. There is no precopulatory display; the male may fight with the female until she submits to him and copulation"
"but the belly has a patch which is only sparsely covered with hair and shows the black skin underneath. The meerkat uses this area to absorb heat while standing on its rear legs, usually early in the morning after cold desert nights. Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but also eat other animals (lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, eggs, small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and, more rarely, small birds), plants and fungi (the desert truffle ""Kalaharituber pfeilii""). Meerkats are immune to certain types of venom, including the very strong venom of the scorpions of the Kalahari Desert. Baby meerkats do not start foraging for"
"Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins is a 2008 television film created by Discovery Films and Oxford Scientific Films as a prequel to the Animal Planet series ""Meerkat Manor"". A scripted documentary narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, the film details the life of a meerkat named Flower from birth to her becoming the leader of a meerkat group called the Whiskers. The film is based on the research notes of the Kalahari Meerkat Project and primarily uses wild meerkat ""actors"" to represent those in the story. Shot over two years at the Kuruman River Reserve in Northern"
"formerly included as a subfamily of the mustelids, but are now regarded as a separate family (the Mephitidae). The mongoose and the meerkat bear a striking resemblance to many mustelids, but belong to a distinctly different suborder—the Feliformia (all those carnivores sharing more recent origins with the cats) and not the Caniformia (those sharing more recent origins with the dogs). Because the mongooses and the mustelids occupy similar ecological niches, convergent evolution has led to some similarity in form and behavior. The oldest fossil of the mustelids were dated at the end of the Oligocene to the beginning of the"
"Mongoose Mongoose is the popular English name for 29 of the 34 species in the 14 genera of the family Herpestidae, which are small feliform carnivorans native to southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. The other five species (all African) in the family are the four kusimanses in the genus ""Crossarchus"", and the species ""Suricata suricatta"", commonly called meerkat in English. Six species in the family Eupleridae are endemic to the island of Madagascar. These are called ""mongoose"" and were originally classified as a genus within the family Herpestidae, but genetic evidence has since shown that they are more closely related"
"will really see real wild animals."" Writing in ""The Guardian"" reviewer Philip French noted that the ""... nature movie made in the Kalahari desert has some good footage but is more Disney-anthropomorphic than Attenborough-authentic."" The Meerkats The Meerkats, also known as Meerkats: The Movie, is a feature-length 2008 British wildlife fiction film which anthropomorphises the daily struggles of a clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. It was produced by BBC Films and The Weinstein Company, and filmed by the award-winning BBC Natural History Unit. It is the debut directorial feature of James Honeyborne, previously a producer of natural history"
"giraffe, duiker, shrew, anteater, wombat, ground squirrel, capybara, sugar glider, red panda, tenrec, naked mole rat, dusky titi monkey, rhesus macaque, lemur catta, bush baby, capuchin, tamarin, red colobus, marmoset. Divisions: Social Mammals, Marine Mammals, Who In The What Now, and Fossil Mammals Animals who did not advance to round two: titi monkey, dingo, meerkat, beaver, marmot, bush dog, hyrax, bandicoot, fisher, saki, Sunda colugo, pangolin, echidna, olinguito, mara, ""A. afarensis"", ""A. sediba"", dire wolf, aurochs, giant giraffid, megalania, rhino wombat, giant baboon, Godzilla platypus, sea otter, beluga whale, harbor seal, river dolphin, hooded seal, ringed seal, narwhal, manatee. Divisions:"
"Muskrat The muskrat (""Ondatra zibethicus""), the only species in genus Ondatra and tribe Ondatrini, is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and is an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. The muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as ""rats"" in a general sense"
"Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International that premiered in September 2005 and ran for four series until its cancellation in August 2008. Using traditional animal documentary style footage along with narration, the series told the story of the Whiskers, one of more than a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme was narrated by Bill Nighy, with the"
"fitted with muzzles were used to chase rabbits out of their warrens and into waiting nets. Ferret The ferret (""Mustela putorius furo"") is the domesticated form of the European polecat, a mammal belonging to the same genus as the weasel, ""Mustela"" of the family Mustelidae. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur. They have an average length of including a tail, weigh about , and have a natural lifespan of 7 to 10 years. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. Several other Mustelids also have the word ""ferret"" in their common names,"
"meerkats in the southern Kalahari. He is one of the founders of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, the subjects of which are featured in the television programme ""Meerkat Manor"". Tim Clutton-Brock Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock (born 13 August 1946) is a British zoologist known for his comparative studies of the behavioural ecology of mammals, particularly red deer and meerkats. As of 2008, he is the Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and head of the Large Animal Research Group at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He also holds extraordinary"
"pets at that time. Vervet monkey The vervet monkey (""Chlorocebus pygerythrus""), or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term ""vervet"" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus ""Chlorocebus"". The five distinct subspecies can be found mostly throughout Southern Africa, as well as some of the eastern countries. Vervets were introduced to Florida, St. Kitts, Ascension Island, and Cape Verde. These mostly herbivorous monkeys have black faces and grey body hair color, ranging in body length from about for males to about for females. In addition to"
"European polecat The European polecat (""Mustela putorius"") – also known as the common ferret, black or forest polecat, or fitch (as well as some other names) – is a species of mustelid native to western Eurasia and north Morocco. It is of a generally dark brown colour, with a pale underbelly and a dark mask across the face. Occasionally, colour mutations, including albinos and erythrists, occur. Compared to minks and other weasels – fellow members of the genus ""Mustela"" – the polecat has a shorter, more compact body; a more powerfully built skull and dentition; is less agile; and it"
"this is presenting animals in the context of their biome with other species, rather than as an individual species. Species to be held include: 1. Cheetah 2. Spotted Hyena 3. Meerkat 4. African Lion 5. African Wild Dog 6. Giraffe 7. Plains Zebra 8. Ostrich 9. White Rhino 10. Black Buck 11. Western Lowland Gorilla 12. Hamadryas Baboon 13. Chimpanzee 14. Sumatran Tiger 15. Red Panda 16. Small Clawed Otter 17. Siamang 18. Orangutan 19. Asiatic Water Buffalo 20. Saltwater Crocodile 21. Little Penguin 22. Dingo 23. Echidna 24. Koala 25. Tasmanian Devil 26. Emu 27. Bridled Nail Tail Wallaby"
"more closely related to the domesticated cat than the Lion and can be found all over South America, Mexico, the western half of the US including Florida, and southwestern Canada. Three mammal species in the United States are referred to as ""wild cats"" (ocelot, the Canadian lynx, and the bobcat). However, they do not belong to ""Felis"", the genus of the wildcat proper and the domestic cat. The ocelot is in the genus ""Leopardus"" while the lynx and bobcat are in the genus ""Lynx"". A smaller cat, Jaguarundi (""Herpailurus yagouaroundi""), from Central and South America occurs near the lower Rio"
"of inbreeding and the promotion of outcrossing allow the masking of deleterious recessive mutations. (Also see Complementation (genetics).) Meerkats are small burrowing animals, living in large underground networks with multiple entrances which they leave only during the day, except to avoid the heat of the afternoon. They are very social creatures and they live in colonies together. Animals in the same group groom each other regularly. The alpha pair often scent-mark subordinates of the group to express their authority. There may be up to 30 meerkats in a group. To look out for predators, one or more meerkats stand sentry,"
"Ocelot The ocelot (""Leopardus pardalis"") is a wild cat native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as the population is estimated to comprise more than 40,000 mature individuals and is considered stable. Its fur was once regarded as particularly valuable, but legal trade of its fur ceased decades ago. In the United States, it inhabits southern Texas and southern Arizona. The scientific name of the ocelot is ""Leopardus pardalis"". It is a member of the genus ""Leopardus"" of the family Felidae. The species was first"
"in male marmots (""Marmota marmota""), and blocks of ovulatory cycles of female talapoin monkeys (""Miopithecus talapoin""), meerkats (""Suricata suricatta"") and marmots. In cooperatively breeding meerkats (Suricata suricatta) the dominant breeding female is the oldest and heaviest female who is highly aggressive toward subordinate females during the breeding season and temporarily evicts subordinate females from the group. Evicted subordinates suffer repeated attacks during the later stages of the breeding female's pregnancy and showed GC levels two times higher than normal. Approximately 3 days after their birth, subordinate females return to the group to help rear the breeding female's pups, at which"
"on the country's first Protected Species List in 2009, banning all hunting and trading within the country, and is proposed as a priority species for future study. Asiatic wildcat The Asiatic wildcat (""Felis lybica ornata"") is an African wildcat subspecies that occurs from the eastern Caspian Sea north to Kazakhstan, into western India, western China and southern Mongolia. It is also known as the Asian steppe wildcat and Indian desert cat. The status Least Concern in the IUCN Red List is attributed to the species. There is no information on current status or population numbers for the Asiatic wildcat's entire"
"member of the cat family, the felids, which are a rapidly evolving family of mammals that share a common ancestor only 10–15 million years ago and include lions, tigers, cougars and many others. Within this family, domestic cats (""Felis catus"") are part of the genus ""Felis"", which is a group of small cats containing about seven species (depending upon classification scheme). Members of the genus are found worldwide and include the jungle cat (""Felis chaus"") of southeast Asia, European wildcat (""F. silvestris silvestris""), African wildcat (""F. s. lybica""), the Chinese mountain cat (""F. bieti""), and the Arabian sand cat (""F."
"Vervet monkey The vervet monkey (""Chlorocebus pygerythrus""), or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term ""vervet"" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus ""Chlorocebus"". The five distinct subspecies can be found mostly throughout Southern Africa, as well as some of the eastern countries. Vervets were introduced to Florida, St. Kitts, Ascension Island, and Cape Verde. These mostly herbivorous monkeys have black faces and grey body hair color, ranging in body length from about for males to about for females. In addition to behavioral research on natural"
"meerkats, Kafue lechwe, and wallaby. Amur tiger, African lion, Jaguar, Carpathian lynx, grey wolves, Iberian wolves, European bear, Syrian bear, Asian short-clawed otters, Raccoon, Vervet monkeys, Common marmosets, Ring-tailed coati, Slender-tailed meerkats, tapir, capybara, Kafue lechwe, Grant's zebra, sugar gliders, lesser hedgehog tenrec, Parma wallabies, Bennett's wallabies, Reeves's muntjac, Fallow deer, domestic rabbits, raccoon dogs, reindeer, Azara's agouti, African pygmy goats and red fox. Ostrich, greater rhea, white-cheeked turaco, avocets, Indian runner ducks, Helmeted guinea fowl, white-naped crane, great horned owl, great grey owl, burrowing owl, European eagle owl, striated caracara, Himalayan Monal, and golden pheasant. Red-tailed boa constrictor, royal"
"corn and other farm and garden crops growing near water bodies. Royal Canadian Mounted Police winter hats are made from muskrat fur. Muskrat The muskrat (""Ondatra zibethicus""), the only species in genus Ondatra and tribe Ondatrini, is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and is an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. The muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily"
"Asiatic wildcat The Asiatic wildcat (""Felis lybica ornata"") is an African wildcat subspecies that occurs from the eastern Caspian Sea north to Kazakhstan, into western India, western China and southern Mongolia. It is also known as the Asian steppe wildcat and Indian desert cat. The status Least Concern in the IUCN Red List is attributed to the species. There is no information on current status or population numbers for the Asiatic wildcat's entire range, but populations are thought to be declining. The Asian wildcat has a long, tapering tail, always with a short black tip, and with spots at the"
"defense costs are generally male dependent and lactation is female dependent. Meerkats (""Suricata suricatta"") have exhibited male territory defense strategies, where male helpers will fend off intruding males to prevent such intruders from mating with subordinates or dominant females. Additionally, subordinate female pregnant helpers are sometimes exiled from the group by a dominant female. This eviction causes the subordinate female to have an abortion, which frees up resources such as lactation and energy that can be used to help the dominant female and her pups. Rarely, a female helper or breeder will defend the territory while males are present. This"
"of predation as they are generally the first to detect predators (e.g. jackals, eagle species) and flee to safety. Meerkats also only go on guard once they are satiated so if no other individual is on sentry duty, guarding may be the most beneficial behaviour as the individual has no requirement for feeding and can benefit from early predator detection. In a large group, it is possible for an individual to cheat by scanning less than other members of the group without having any negative effect on the collective vigilance of the group. Cheating would seem to be the most"
"Bandicoot Bandicoot are a group of about 20 species of small to large-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivore in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region. The bandicoot is a member of the order Peramelemorphia, and the word ""bandicoot"" is often used informally to refer to any peramelemorph, such as the bilby. The term originally referred to the unrelated Indian bandicoot rat from Telugu language word Pandikokku (పందికొక్కు). Most marsupials, including bandicoots, have a bifurcated penis. The embryos of bandicoots have a chorioallantoic placenta that connects them to the uterine wall, in addition to the choriovitelline placenta that"